Shadows of Desire

I began to pace, the memory fueling a restless energy. The library, once a sanctuary, felt like a cage. "I could not go home in shame. So I ran. I took what little money I had and I fled. I thought if I could just get away, I could start over. I was on the King's Road, heading south, trying to lose myself. I was naive. A pretty girl, alone, is not a traveler. She is prey."
My voice dropped, the narrative turning down a darker, colder road. "Two men found me at an inn. Well-dressed. Soldiers with them. They were hunting, they said. And they had found the most beautiful deer in the forest." I stopped pacing and looked at my son, looked at his face, at his golden hair, at the shape of his jaw. "One of them had your father's eyes. The other had Eira's."